Responsibilities
by Ravenrei
Summary: Just a little introspective piece for one of Inuyasha's often overlooked characters. See what you think.


A/N: Well, here's my first stab at Inuyasha fanfiction. I really don't have much to say other than I hope you enjoy. Please take the time and review if the spirit moves you, ne? ^_^

Disclaimer: Inuyasha & Co. aren't mine. Never have been, probably never will be. *runs off and cries over the unfairness of it all* 

Responsibilities  
by Raven Reimiss

As she took a surveying glance at the room before her gentle eyes, Kagome's mother couldn't figure out for the life of her how everything had changed lately. Her daughter was your average Japanese schoolgirl, up until her fifteenth birthday, that is. She'd gone to middle school every day, dressed in her neatly pressed green skirt and white sailor blouse, come home with piles of homework, worried about upcoming tests, and went out with her friends. Now she still left the house in her nice and tidy uniform, but it almost never came back in good condition, and it wasn't school she was wearing it to most days. She saw her friends more often to get notes from class than to just spend time with them, instead spending more time with her new friends—a hanyou boy, a kitsune child, a houshi, and a taijiya—people her mother had only seen in a single photograph. Well, she had met Kagome's dog-eared friend, Inuyasha, but he rarely stuck around long enough for her to get to know him. Her daughter's days were now spent battling youkai and finding shards of a shattered jewel in a world hundreds of years in the past. That was quite a lot for a single mother to swallow.

She was doing that right now Higurashi-san reflected as she entered the girl's room. At least this had been a planned trip to the past so Kagome had made her bed before leaving, unlike other times when the white-haired boy had come and gotten her hurriedly. The room was rather clean, but she felt it could always use a tidy. Grabbing a lint brush out of her apron, she quickly brushed off some fur their cat Buyo had left on Kagome's bed before pulling out her dust rag and wiping off the top of her nightstand. She tsked in that quiet way mothers do as she noticed the damage to her daughter's alarm clock, taking in the cracked face and the dents in its body. Well, looks like she'd just have to go get a replacement somewhere. Maybe they had a spare the girl could use if she came back today. 

It had been almost ten days since the fifteen-year-old had cheerfully waved goodbye before dropping down into the ancient well on the shrine grounds, disappearing back into a time of youkai and feudal war. Kagome had said they were searching for a shard towards the east and that it would take them a while to return to the village, but her mother hadn't been expecting "a while" to be a week-and-a-half. The girl usually at least popped back in to get some more supplies or get a bath and a good night's sleep before the week was out. It really must've been far away for her to have not returned yet. The woman refused to believe that something might be wrong. She was far from naïve; she figured her daughter probably wasn't telling her half of the dangerous things she'd had to endure, but she didn't really need to. Higurashi-san could find the signs all around her.

First of all, there was the supply list Kagome would always give her when she came home. All too often the list called for a restocking of the first aid kit, primarily the antiseptics, various types of wraps and bandages, and the pain medication. Since Kagome herself rarely came home injured, she could only assume the girl was having to play nursemaid to her comrades on a regular basis. Then came things like she found now, stashed in the bottom drawer of her daughter's desk. Bandages and some spare rags, soaked through with blood. Her mother gave a small moment of mental praise to the invention of drawer liners that saved the desk from being blood-stained. She wasn't quite sure whose blood it was or if she even wanted to know, but she figured it was probably Inuyasha's. She'd heard them arguing in her room about him holding still as she attended to his wounds at times in the past before the girl announced her return to the family. Apparently he didn't like being fussed over, but the woman was proud that her daughter had the conviction to do what she felt needed to be done when one of her friends was hurt.

The most obvious sign was probably one her daughter thought nothing of, the small jar of jewel shards she left on the top of her desk when she was at home. Higurashi-san had seen its contents many times and counted the shards inside each time Kagome came home. The number was different most times, but not always in an increasing fashion. At the beginning of her strange journey through time, the shards had been growing in number in a pretty consistent manner. They even managed to gather enough that the girl was able to wear them fused together as a necklace at one point. The next time she came through the well, however, she only had a single shard with her. The number had been varying ever since. Obviously something was taking shards from them, and they weren't just walking off with them in the middle of the night, either. Higurashi-san had noticed that when her daughter came back with fewer shards, the first aid kit usually needed a thorough restocking. They were fighting for their lives over there, but there wasn't much the woman could think of to prevent the girl from going back. She knew Kagome was committed to helping her friends and completing the quest she'd set out on. It was a matter of doing what had to be done.

There were things _she_ had to do, too. She had to take care of Souta, help with Jii-chan with the running of the shrine, help Kagome when she was home, make the meals and keep the house clean and presentable. It was her duty as daughter and mother, as Kagome was doing her duty as comrade and friend. They both had their places, their parts to play. So she was going to do hers to the fullest. Finishing wiping off the desktop, straightening a few books here and there, and dusting the top of her daughter's vanity, she took a few steps back into the middle of the room and surveyed her work. Yes, everything was neat, things in their proper places. All prepared for the return of the room's occupant. She just hoped the girl would come home soon. 


End file.
